Injuries Board Releases Annual Report Online

The Injuries Board in Ireland has released its annual report online, detailing statistics comparing claims to those made in the first half of this year to the same period in 2012.

The Injuries Board have released a report on their website-injuriesboard.ie-that shows that the number of claims and applications for assessment of personal injury compensation have risen by 10 percent in the first six months of 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012. The government body received 14,685 cases in the first half of the year in 2012, which increased to 16,162 this year.

The total value of assessments that had been accepted by the board rose by 8 percent between 2012 and 2013. The average value of Injuries Board claims also rose, by 4 percent. These changes have been attributed to a small number of exceptionally high claims assessments-one in particular, for €976,000, is on record as being the highest-ever assessment of personal injury compensation made by the Injuries Board.

The number of Injuries Board claims assessments accepted by plaintiffs also increased from 5,180 in 2012 to 5,286 in 2013. This represented a substantial decrease in the percentage of Injuries Board assessments accepted; in 2012, 37.2 percent were accepted, whereas in 2013 32.7 percent were accepted. This indicates that more claims for personal injury compensation are being resolved by direct negotiation and court action.

Road traffic accidents accounted for the highest proportion of applications for assessment submitted to the Injuries Board (75.5 percent). This trend continues on from previous years. The proportion of claims for injuries sustained at work continued to decline (8.1 percent). The balance of Injuries Board claims was in respect of public liability claims and product liability claims.

The CEO of the Injuries Board in Ireland-Patricia Byron-commented that the higher volume of claims and increased value of accepted compensation assessments did not provide an excuse for insurance companies to increase the premiums they charge. She said that, as the Board´s processing fee to respondents had been reduced from €850.00 to €600.00, the savings made by insurance companies should counter the increased value of Injuries Board claims.